21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: A third of 18-25 year-old’s have had sex with someone they met through a phone app – but sites like Tinder make them WORSE in bed.

NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT HERE: Outbreak of a Respiratory Illness Escalates Among Children and Mystifies Scientists.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM the mid-engined C8 Corvette. I hope it’s great, but given how GM’s been doing — including with the current Corvette iteration — I’m not wholly optimistic.

REVIEW: Beretta 1301 Tactical Shotgun. Even though it’s easy and legal to fix with aftermarket parts, the magazine capacity restriction — not Beretta’s fault, but Congress’s — is bullshit.

AT AMAZON, just $119 for the Kindle Paperwhite.

Plus, introducing the Kindle Voyage.

A MARCH IN FAVOR OF TOLERATION AND CIVIL RIGHTS at which attendance is compulsory.

That same spirit prevailed Friday in Frederick, when Hood College led more than 1,200 students, faculty and other local residents nearly 2 miles from Harry Grove Stadium to the Rosemont Avenue campus in a commemorative “March on Frederick.”

The march was the crown jewel in a year of programming to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. School officials said it also marks the same milestone since Hood enrolled its first black student. . . .

Helena Hammond-DoDoo, a senior at Hood, called the march a great concept that needed better execution. Participation was mandatory for some student groups whether people were truly interested or not, she said.

“If we have absent-minded people sitting here not really listening, what have we really done?” she said.

Many students, like freshman Katie Hippert, said they view civil rights as “freedom for everyone.”

Emilie had a more clear-cut definition: “the right for anyone to go and do whatever they please, as long as it’s lawful.”

Even, maybe, not go to a march? As Walter Olson comments: “Expecting people to join a cause march whether they are inclined to or not. Expecting them to join a flag salute and pledge of allegiance whether they are inclined to or not. Similarities/differences?”

And as someone comments on Facebook: “Mandatory demonstrations in favor of the prevailing ideology, styled as if they were voluntary expressions of commitment to change. I think I’ve heard of these before.”

HARD-HITTING JOURNALISM FROM SLATE: Why the Pot-Smoking Gender Gap Matters. New hashtag-feminism campaign: #closethepotgendergap.

But, mockery aside, this piece demonstrates the blindness of feminist writers: “The fact that men don’t feel guilty about firing up a joint and playing Call of Duty while women think they should be spending that time on ‘worthwhile’ activities perhaps bears a little more interrogation.”

The thing is, with the rewards for studying harder and socializing seeming less clear, men are rationally less motivated. Call it being “on strike,” or call it the loss of the “patriarchal dividend” that made men work harder at socially-approved activities to attract and support a wife, there’s just less reason now. And feminists can thank themselves for creating a society where firing up a joint and playing Call of Duty is a rational response.

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: DNA nanotechnology and the atoms to micrometer nanofabrication gap.

HEH: “Terrifying. Unless you have a sword and they don’t, I guess.”

This ties in with my discussion from the other night.

ELLO, THE TOO-HIP ANTI-FACEBOOK.

Want a sure-fire business plan? Here it is: Recreate the functionality that Facebook had, say, five years ago, before it sucked. Make it easy for people to import their contacts/friends from Facebook. Watch it grow exponentially.

OOPS: Using new Corvette’s valet-recording tech could be a felony in some states.

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Eric Holder and the Lonely President: The attorney general’s departure removes one of Obama’s few close friends in the administration.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 506.

AMERICAN THINKER: Fed up with the GOP Establishment? That’s no reason to stay home on Election Day. True.

REPORT: 2016 Hopefuls Test the Waters with the ‘Values Voters.’

ROGER SIMON: Oklahoma Beheading: Have Our Prisons Become Jihad Factories?

Response: “Just retired from the prison system in Texas. I can assure you that is the case.”

AT AMAZON, take 20% off Grills & Toasters.

Also, Emergency & Long-term Food Storage Deals.

HMM: Oklahoma Beheader Linked to Al Qaeda Leader Awlaki, Boston Bomber’s Mosque.

UPDATE: Oklahoma Beheading Suspect Released Early from Probation Scheduled Until 2017. “Alton Nolen, the suspect in Thursday’s beheading attack in Oklahoma, was on felony probation until 2017 but was given early release in April of this year.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Beheading Suspect Fired After Argument Over Stoning Women: Hometown paper reveals details about suspect in the Oklahoma murder.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Charge: Female High School Basketball Coaches Banged Underage Students For Years.

WHAT DID YOU EXPECT, FROM PRESIDENT GOLDMAN SACHS? I MEAN, REALLY. WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? In 8 Econ Recoveries from 1949 to 2000, Bottom 99% Got Over 1/2 of Income Gains. In this Recovery, 99% get measly 5%.

Hey, they don’t call him President Goldman Sachs for nothing.

A DRUNK LABRADOODLE COULD DO BETTER THAN OBAMA, BUT YEAH: Rasmussen Poll: More Americans Think Romney Would Be Doing Better Job Than Obama.

RADLEY BALKO: A (sort of) defense of South Carolina state trooper Sean Groubert.

Let’s first state the obvious: This shooting was completely and utterly without justification. Jones did nothing wrong. He was pulled over because of a dumb law, did what he was told, and was subsequently shot for it. Groubert should never be a police officer again. Both he and the state of South Carolina should not only pay Jones’ medical bills, but a substantial sum of money for Jones’ pain and suffering.

All of that said, watch the video again. Does Groubert look like a cold-blooded killer? I doubt he got out of his car intending to shoot Jones. It looks to me like Groubert was terrified, possibly jumped to some conclusions about Jones based on his race and appearance, and reacted out of fear. Which is to say that this looks less like a rogue cop and more the product of poor training, possible racial bias, and a cop who has been conditioned to see threats where none exist.

When cops are caught on video administering an extended beating to someone who is clearly incapacitated, I say throw the book at them. But this was a split-second decision. If Groubert’s actions were due to poor or inappropriate training, poor hiring practices by the South Carolina state police, or a police culture that conditions cops to see every interaction with a citizen as potential threat, sending him to prison isn’t going to change any of that. Individual cops who abuse their authority should certainly be held accountable, and a system that consistently held them accountable would be something of a deterrent. But focusing only on the individual cop in a case like this lets the police agency that hired and trained him off the hook.

Read the whole thing.

STEPHEN L. CARTER: Bring Back The Department Of War.

Whatever the merits of any particular war, the rise of euphemism intended to disguise its nature is an unhappy development in political discourse. How do we repair the damage?

A young acquaintance of mine, formerly of the U.S. Special Forces, has a concrete suggestion. My friend undertook many a dicey mission in dangerous parts of the world. He doesn’t feel that what his country called upon him to do was unjust or unfair. He does feel that the rest of us tend to hide from ourselves the nature of what we ask our armed forces to do.

My friend proposes restoring the original name of the Department of Defense, which until 1949 was known as the Department of War. A small change, he concedes, but one he says would put us on the path toward a little bit more honesty about who we are and what’s done in our name.

Indeed.